Burlington, Vermont - July 28, 2011
Three boys and their grandmother lost their lives in a 1999 Milton house fire. Eric Williams lost his freedom. He pled guilty to intentionally setting the deadly blaze.
"That tragedy was compounded 19 months later when an innocent boy was sentenced to serve 40 to 60 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit," said Mark Furlan, the lawyer for Eric Williams.
"This was an attempt by Mr. Williams to get some attention and we know from Dr. Drogin's testimony that this is the type of thing that this individual will do," Chittenden County Deputy Prosecutor Mary Morrissey said.
The lawyers are battling over whether Williams deserves a new trial. After a decade behind bars, he now claims his confession was coerced and his previous lawyer failed to suppress it, failed to hire the appropriate defense experts and wrongly talked him into pleading guilty.
"You don't just start negotiating without some consent and authority of your client," Furlan said.
Williams' petition will fail if he does not prove his previous lawyer's actions were unreasonable or damaging. Since this is a hearing, not a trial, the lawyers only have to persuade a judge, not a jury. But the parents of the victims say they're more convinced than ever Williams is guilty.
"There's just no doubt. I mean he was the only one in the room that night," said Bobbi-Jo Perreault, who lost her sons and her mother in the fire.
"He's got another 29 years before he can get paroled, so what does he got to lose," said Bobbie Moulton, whose son died in the fire.
Ultimately it will be up to Judge Alden Bryan to decide if Williams' claim holds any weight. Unlike a traditional trial, he was allowed to question the lawyers on unclear arguments. This will help him decide if Williams deserves a second shot. An unpopular option for a family who's still seeking justice a decade after tragedy destroyed their lives.
"It's already caused enough trauma in my life, just going through the last three weeks. I have to try to rebuild and try to put it behind me and hopefully I get good news down the road," Moulton said.
But the victims' family has a long wait ahead of them. The judge is not expected to make a decision before Christmas. At that point he could grant Williams a new trial or modify his sentence.
Jennifer Reading - WCAX News
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